Since deciding to complete 'Joker', Aiden felt like he was going crazy.
No matter what he tried or how he tried, nothing was working. He wasn't even close to finding the right inspiration to complete the song.
Everytime he tried a melody, a tune or any instrument, it didn't fit. He had prepared for this since he knew that it was way harder to complete someone else's work.
For example, he had once heard about a writer who had passed away while writing a novel series and his son had completed it but his son was never able to reach the level of his father and the last part of the novel was disliked by readers and critics.
Actually, the son of the writer wasn't a bad writer himself and despite that, he wasn't able to give the novel a deserving end.
Just because it wasn't his creation.
Aiden was feeling the same. He didn't want to ruin the song by doing a job that was just not good enough. The problem was that a lot of times the light he would see would be silver, meaning that he was on the right track.
But it would still feel lacking. Like a piece of it was missing.
He had even started doubting himself as a musician in the last few days because of that.
'Can I even do it?'
That was the thought in his mind all the time.
"What are you doing?"
Aiden came out of his trance as he heard the familiar voice of Asano. He blinked his eyes, looking over from the book he was reading.
The sound of the busy set made him realise where he was.
They were shooting the climax of [Action Hero].
"Just reading a book."
Aiden said, looking up at Asano. The director squinted his eyes and looked at the cover of the book.
"<The Saga of a Broken artist>. Isn't that book about Agnas?"
"Yeah it is. Have you read it?"
"Yeah, I am a fan. I made a movie about a singer back in my early director days. That was partly inspired by Agnas." Asano smiled. "Why are you reading it?"
"I auditioned for his biopic. It made me interested in knowing about his life. So I have been going through every book and article I could find about him online. A lot of it is just how the media portrayed him, so I don't know how he was exactly."
To complete 'Joker', he had decided to take a different route in the end as his skill was not enough. He instead decided to understand Agnas first then complete his song.
Because of that, Aiden started reading up more on him. Every book or article he could find about him, he was going through it.
But the media portrayed him in various ways and his story seems distorted.
It was like there were several versions of it, making it difficult to know which one was real.
"It's very difficult to know everything about him. Some people just become more than mortals in the eyes of people and people start thinking of them how they like."
Asano shook his head and Aiden couldn't help asking.
"Do you know a book that would help me know the real him?"
"Can't say. You have better luck asking people who were close to him. The biopic about him, it's not adapted from some book but by interviewing people who used to know him. Talk with them if you really want to know more about Agnas."
Aiden nodded his head hearing that, wondering if he should meet Joseph again to ask about Agnas.
As he was thinking that, Asano clapped his hands.
"Anyway, you are on the set, so focus on filming for now."
***
The shooting for [Action Hero] was now at the end. Like Asano had promised, the shooting was progressing very fast.
Normally, it was better to take your time with the shooting. But Asano felt like it was fine to finish fast if there's enough preparations and people are invested in the project.
He had been planning this movie for a year now and as it was a different movie with more emphasis on action than anything else, they didn't have to follow what's normal.
Speaking of action, Aiden was feeling more and more confident that the action scenes were going to be well liked by the viewers. They weren't something that people have not seen before.
It was more about how they were planning to show them.
Every fight scene was filled with tense moments and some have goosebumps inducing moments. There were ones with 50 people and ones that seemed straight from an anime.
A live action anime — Maybe that was how the movie was going to be perceived in the future.
Although Aiden wasn't having a lot of problems with the action scenes thanks to the stunt doubles, he still needed to portray a confident, borderline arrogant body language.
It was a very hard thing for Aiden, especially when he was shooting the last act of the movie.
Throughout the movie, Ray would change as a part of him would start taking a liking to the fights that he was getting involved in. In the past, he had always been scolded after getting into a fight.
But here in this school, he was celebrated and admired. That made his whole self transform bit by bit and it truly manifested when he started his own gang in the school.
To perfectly portray that kind of body language, Aiden got helped from body language coaches and started adding little things about his walk and postures.
Maybe it was what evolving with the movie meant.
***
"Are you missing me a lot these days? I didn't expect the workaholic you to come meet me when we saw each other a few days ago."
Cameron said in a snarky tone and Aiden glared at him.
"I'm here to see Joseph."
The shooting for today had just ended an hour ago and without wasting any time, he had decided to come meet Joseph.
"Why?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.
"I have something to ask him about Agnas."
Hearing that, Cameron ruffled his blonde hair and nodded, like he didn't have to ask more questions.
He accompanied Aiden to his grandpa's room and along the way, he just talked about how he was getting action lessons for the biopic and would be staying in New York for a while.
"My grandpa's pretty free, so just go in. He would appreciate some company."
"Okay."
Aiden entered the room without knocking and saw that Joseph was sitting on the sofa, reading what looked like a tragic romance by the cover.
Hearing footsteps, he turned his head, surprised but pleased to see Aiden.
"Aiden, I didn't expected to see you today. Come, sit here."
"Joseph, I came to see you because I wanted to ask you something. More like, about someone."
Aiden said, sitting down and getting straight to the point.
"Who?"
"Agnas, I really wanted to know more about him. I read books and articles about him but I think you would be able to tell me more about him."
"Aiden, I think you should do that after you sign the role—"
Aiden shook his head, interrupting Joseph. Hesitating a bit, he told him about how he's trying to complete 'Joker' and because of that, he wanted to know more about him.
Joseph's reaction was not out of ordinary when he heard that. He simply gave Aiden an advice that he had given to a lot of musicians before.
"You know, Aiden. A lot of musicians, some Grammy winners even, had tried to complete it after listening to it. They weren't able to do it. It's simply akin to walking on the ground filled with landmines."
"I understand that but I still want to try. I feel like I would be able to do it. If I can't, then I just join the list of musicians who have tried to do the same."
"Whatever fits you." Joseph shrugged, knowing by Aiden's eyes that he won't give up. "So, what do you want to know?"
"Everything you can tell me. Especially the last few years of his life. I wanted to know what type of mindset he was in while making 'Joker'."
Aiden asked. He wondered if it was too much to ask of Joseph but the old man didn't seem like he would reject him.
"That's hard to say. His personal life was in shambles with a lot of tragic incidents happening. We were always worried about him. Maybe not enough or he wouldn't have—"
His voice turned sombre as he sighed. Aiden wondered if he was making Joseph remember bad memories by asking such questions but the old man shook his head.
Thinking of something, he opened his mouth again.
"You know what. I think you would know more if I just show you the letters he used to send me."
"Letters?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.
"Agnas used to send me letters. He liked writing letters, so he would always send them to me if he was touring or if I was touring. He did that to a lot of other people too. You can read them.
"Won't they be something very private?"
Aiden asked. He felt like he would breaching a boundary if he really read the letters.
Joseph simply smiled.
"I'm in my last few years. I don't have anything to hide and who knows you might actually be able to complete 'Joker'. It would be the best thing in the world for me if you can."
He said it like he himself didn't believed that Aiden would be able to do it as he stood up to take out the letters.
